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From the article:
“where is communism still manifested in China today? Where are the basic Communist values of sharing and equality evident in Chinese society now? They cannot be found. Quite simply, China is no longer a communist country.
If we are looking for evidence of communism in China, the first and most important place to look is at the economy. The economy in China is now decidedly capitalistic in nature. Average Chinese citizens can start their own businesses and put their income into private bank accounts. Chinese citizens can buy stocks in companies and enjoy the revenues or suffer the losses. As of just a few years ago, private property rights have been greatly enhanced in China, and Chinese people can now be more secure that their land will not be taken away from them.”

Several years ago, there was a discussion thread here on FR along the subject of “would the United States go to war with China over Taiwan?”

I replied that, no, we would not, for a very good reason: it would not be worth it because the “two Chinas” were becoming more alike, and that re-unification would be a natural outcome of this progress. Even reunification “under duress”.

The conventional rationale throughout the Cold War was that Taiwan represented freedom (and capitalism), whereas “Red” China represented Communism and slavery.

Once that may have been true, but no longer. Communist countries simply do not operate as China operates today. Granted, the political system has yet to be “opened up” as has the ecomonic system, but in time that must happen, too. I have read about an increasing number of “Christian converts” among the Chinese. If Christianity ever begins to gain a significant foothold in China, watch out, for it is the combination of Christianity and a hunger for freedom (along with knowledge for knowledge’s sake) that created “the West”.

Aside from the fading one-party system in mainland China, there is less and less from which to distinguish it from Taiwan. There is less and less “to go to war for”. Contrast this with Israel, a beacon of freedom surrounded by the darkness of Islam. Even the leaders of China understand Islam, and - amazingly - seem to confront its domestic threat with more fortitude than we do here.

There will never be war between the United States and China over Taiwan. It’s no longer worth American blood and treasure to go to war over two “like nations” that really should re-unite into one. Even the Soviets, at the end of their days, understood this about Germany.

- John